So many questions..

[budcham]

Hello, I am new at this, and new to dealing with a chameleon. My boyfriend and I went to a pet store today and the keeper talked us into buying a senegal chameleon. Now we asked him alot of questions because we knew nothing of this awesome looking creature. He told us that we only needed one light, a dripper, some vitamins to put in the water a few limbs, and some crickets. Now that I am home and researching the animal I am finding that the keeper was a moron and didnt tell us the right information. He didnt even mention that chameleons don't like to be held, and there I was holding it the whole drive home...
Ive read alot about the chameleon so far but still have some questions
I know that its not advised to use fake plants, but what kind of plants can you use? Can I throw in some limbs from my trees out back? Also, is pete moss good to use on the bottom of the cage and how thick of a layer should I put down? The keeper also said to just put a dozen crickets in the cage about once a week and he will feed off that, and only that.
He didnt mention anything about gutloading and I already put the crickets in the cage so is it okay to put cricket food in the cage with the chameleon? I looked up house hold cricket food and put some oranges, baby cereal rice, and dry cat food in the cage. I asked the keeper how old the chameleon was, he wouldnt tell us cause he didnt want us to take the younger one, he had many in one cage. The one we picked hasnt changed any colors yet, does anyone know ruffly how old the chameleon could be?
Are stones and other climbing objects good to put in the cage?
I cannot tell if the chameleon is a male or a female.

I'm so frusterated that the petkeeper was so irresponsible in selling us the chameleon, I have so many questions, mainly about basic things that are hard to find on websites. we paid alot of money for this chameleon so I will be horribly upset if it dies due to my lack of knowledge.
please help

 

[budcham]

so many questions

another thing, I read somewhere that the chameleon might eat the fake plant. The keeper gave us a fake plant to put in the cage, I dont want to take it out untill I get a real plant, but if the chameleon eats it will he die?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Keep the senegal very much the same way you would keep a veiled:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

A couple things people have told me about senegals:

senegals like densely planted environments
senegals like a lot of water (dripper and misting) be sure to let the enclosure dry out completely between mistings.

Concerning cat food in gut load, proper lighting, substrate, proper enclosure, supplementing ...etc read all the articles on the site linked above.

Cage size should be no less than 16x16x30
The article on keeping female veileds won't apply directly.

Here's a great article specifically on Senegals:

http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=164

Good luck!
I have a project involving this species in the works ... my first female arrives Tuesday.

-Brad

 

[Julirs]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Petstore Morons and chameleons! Please don't tell me that it is in an aquarium too. All of the same wrong things happened to me the first time out. Brad's website is excellent and complete-should answer all of your questions! Also take some pictures of the cham and the enclosure and people here will help get you headed in the right direction for keeping you little guy! Congrats and welcome to the Forums!